Screeners

ARTICLES ABOUT SCREENERS BY DATE - PAGE 3

SOUTH FLORIDA Nobel laureate's lecture is full, to be Webcast Those who do not already have tickets to hear Nobel laureate Dr. James Watson's lecture Tuesday at Florida Atlantic University will have to watch him online, if at all. The auditorium on the Boca Raton campus where the DNA co-discoverer will speak is already at capacity, university spokeswoman Lynn Laurenti said Sunday. To hear Watson discuss My Life With DNA, beginning at 4 p.m., go to the FAU homepage (www.fau.edu) and click on the Webcast link.

Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a muon cosmic ray screening device that can accurately detect smuggled nuclear weapons and materials in any vehicle or container, the nuclear lab reported Tuesday. The device would provide, according to Los Alamos officials, an enormous advantage over X-ray scanning equipment, which can generate dangerous amounts of radiation and cannot penetrate lead containers and other shielding. Several test models of the scanner have been built and successfully operated, and work on a full-sized prototype has begun, the laboratory said.

Sharon West was appalled when her elderly parents were pulled aside for extra screening before flying from Fort Lauderdale to Norfolk, Va., a year ago. Her mother, then 74, had a hard time breathing and walking, while her father, then 75, had undergone a knee replacement. Yet, they were ordered to stand with legs spread and arms out, as screeners ran metal-detecting wands and hands over them. Today, her parents refuse to fly. "The indignity they felt was the fact that people were touching them," said West, 53, of Davie.

Demonstrating appropriate sensitivity to hundreds of complaints from offended passengers, the Transportation Security Administration took an admirable step toward balance by agreeing to modify inordinately invasive pat-down procedures. No longer will security screeners at the nation's airports use their hands to touch between female passengers' breasts during routine searches, unless a hand-held metal detector reacts to the area. Instead, the female screeners assigned to such pat-downs will be instructed to touch only the "chest perimeter."

We all have heard by now the horror stories of the Transportation Security Administration, but what about the horror stories of the "lost passengers"? This is a much better movie plot that is happening daily at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. No one is talking about the mistreatment of the screeners at the checkpoints and why not? Maybe some celebrity has a bigger following and is more newsworthy. As someone who works alongside the TSA screeners in a different capacity, I can tell you that they are verbally and sometimes physically abused by the flying public.

I just read Ken Kaye's Nov. 23 article, "Passengers complain about pat-down searches at airports," with great interest. I fly nearly 200,000 miles a year out of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, and I do not have a problem. And if I did, I would let the screeners pat me down as much as they wanted and not say one word. I am shocked and amazed at these people who complain that their rights are being violated or they are being offended. Flying is a privilege, not a right.

After reading the Nov. 25 article, "Flier searches concern ACLU," I rather hoped your next one could be, "ACLU suits concern fliers." The woman's statement that "We are not criminals," while understandable, confuses the issue. It is the screeners' job to find out which of us may be the criminal, and they cannot know this in advance. While I understand the outrage many women feel, I think we must all consider that each passenger has the right to fly on a safe airplane, and that if screening me in this manner protects you, and the hundreds of other passengers on our plane, then you have the right to have me screened in this manner.

Airport security patdowns might constitute sexual harassment and discriminate against women, the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday. After receiving numerous complaints from around the nation, the organization hopes to meet with top Homeland Security administrators next week to ask whether screeners are given specific standards on how to select passengers and conduct secondary screenings. The ACLU is concerned that women, more than men, are targeted for patdowns. If so, that raises questions whether the Transportation Security Administration is discriminating on the basis of gender, said Barry Steinhardt, of the ACLU's New York office.